Walnut Side Table

[metalspinner]

Here's another one of those project that have been on The List for several years.

We have an 8' window in our living room that looks out onto the patio.  A long narrow table would look just right under there.

Here is a sketch of what I've been thinking about...



 


I remember stacking a certain board in here somewhere...



 

Ah.  There it is right up by the tape measure. See it? That shouldn't be too difficult to dig out of there.



 

Here are the two boards from that level. They are 8/4 with the widest width about 26".  But which one to use? They both have a nice figure. Err... I mean nice figure. The one on the left measures 22-16-26.  The one on the right measurements are 21-14-26. I think I'll go with the hippy one. ;D



 

Here are my debarking tools.  For the most part, the bark popped right off.  A little scraping and brushing to pull the stringy stuff off, but for the most part it was fairly easy.



 

[Riggs]

I can't wait to watch this come together.

[clww]

+1

[Texas Ranger]

Looks like there is a cut out where I can belly up to the table and trencher down.  8)

[metalspinner]

Tables are fun because they are fast.

After planeing the top with the router carriage setup, this is what I was left with...



 

A closeup of the ridges the router bit leaves.



 

This panel is too big and heavy to send through the drum sander, so the hand tools need to get the job done...
 


 

After a while pushing the planes around, the finish is pretty good.
 


 

Everything in my arsenal was thrown at this walnut.  Surprisingly, the feather crotch didn't give me much trouble.  But just to the side and below the crotch I couldn't figure out what to do. :  I pushed this way and that way and the wood was still tearing out.  I even ended up doing circles with the block plane. :  It worked! :D
 


 


Now to deal with the big crack at the end of the board.



 

This is what will be the bottom of the board.  Several layers of duct tape are used to seal up the bottom.



 
 
Then I dammed up the end with some string and CA glue.



 

A couple of strips of tape along the top side of the crack will help with cleanup later. Then the crack is flooded with epoxy thats been dyed black.  Tapping the wood along the crack helped get some air bubbles out.  Notice the scrap piece of plywood under the crack. No need to glue the board to the workbench. ;)
 


 

Now it's a matter of waiting for the epoxy to cure.

[Magicman]

Looks like you have a plan, a slab, and an audience.  Plus, your projects are always so fascinating.  

[metalspinner]

Well, my plan painted me into a corner so to speak. :-\ I'll elaborate later.

First it's time for some joinery.  The leg assembly is mortice and tenon.  Loose tenons, actually.  These next few pics show the procedure for me to cut the mortises. All of the joinery is cut on square stock before any curves, etc are cut.



  


  


 

Next is to mill the tenon stock to thickness on the planer. A looser fit is safer than a tight one.



 

Here are all the tenons rounded and cut to length along with the apron pieces shaped and beveled.
 


 

The aprons crisscross each other, so this angled half lap joint needs to be cut.  The angle turned out to be about 60 degrees.  Luckily, my tablesaw miter gauge rotates all the way to 60 degees. ;D  It was still kind of tricky and I scratched my head for a while figuring out the best way to do it.  If I hadn't already cut the curve on the bottom, it would have been much simpler. :



 

And here are the two sets of aprons dry fit togetehr. Does anyone see the corner I painted myself into? :D 


 

[Stephen1]

Hey I like it, I am working on a walnut table my self....well at I have it partially planed, and now I see some inspiration for me to get my but in gear...

[WDH]

I don't see a corner yet, but I am still looking  . 

I love the color of that walnut.  It obviously was not steamed.  The black epoxy will look very good.  Do you plan to use a Dutchman?

Your clamp thingy is missing the pad thingy   :D.  I had a pad thingy run away and hide from me, but I found the little bugger yesterday. 

I really like your design concept, corner or no.

[metalspinner]

My plan had me glueing two leg assemblies togetehr then assembling them into the base.

However, having two assemblies would give me two closed loops that would not be able to go togetehr. Kind of like those magic rings magicians use. Only I'm not magic. :

So I had to glue one set togetehr, then put the second assembly through the first prior to glueing and clamping the fourth leg. It was a pain in the assembly but I got it done.  I forgot the camera and I had glue drying, so no pics of that.  But it all turned out ok. ;D



 

Those clamps look terrible squeezing from the point like that, but it didn't leave a mark.  I did save the bandsawn curve to use as a clamping caul, but it kept slipping up under pressure.



 

I just couldn't help myself. Here's the unfinished top sort of in position. ;D


 

[CHARLIE]

Chris! You got the robe on! 8)  Impressive!  And.....beautiful.  Nice design too.

[WDH]

The curves look nice  ;D.  Those bessey clamps are worth their weight in gold (they cost about that much too).  I have found that with their design, they clamp square.  If you can make a tight joint, and if you can clamp square, you can make anything. 

How are you going to attach the top?

[Magicman]

Very nice and classy too.

[metalspinner]

I am working on a walnut table my self....

We expect to see pics by noon. :D

Top attachment.

That is the next step today.  I will mill grooves across the tops of the leg pairs to insert a cross piece.  This crosspiece will have a few holes and slots to screw from underneath.  In the drawing at the top of each leg you can see a little rectangle .  That is the end of the crosspiece. A profile is next to it.

On the cross aprons, I did drive a screw through the joint to stiffen it up a bit.  Now that the base is assembled and needs to be moved around, that extra support will give me piece of mind.

[metalspinner]

Today's progress got me to the final bit of final sanding.

Figuring out what to do with the ends of a natural edged slab is always tricky.  You can't just cut a straight edge. So this is what I came up with for this table. ;D



 

That cheese grater thing is awesome. I highly recommend commondeering one from the kitchen and putting it to its true calling. ;D 


Here I'm setting up to run a groove through the leg tops for a batton to hold the top in place.



 
 


 
 

A couple of beauty shots...



 
 


 



 

All that's left is to drill a few holes and slots on the battons and touch up sand everything for the finish.

[Magicman]

Shaping up for sure.  I probably messed up when I showed it to PatD.   ;D

[clww]

Looks great!

[Clam77]

Very nice!!   Can't wait to see the finished product!!   

[Woodey]

Nice to see your vision being formed.

[Woodchuck53]

Wow!!!! That is just the cats meow. Beautiful project and great narrative. I can't wait to shamlessly build one on that design myself. Although I have no access to Walnut. Mine will have to be Red Oak with dark stain. We are all proud of you again. Chuck

[metalspinner]

Woodchuck,
This table has many Arts and Crafts influences and would look just right being made with oak. ;)

I haven't looked at the weather report for tomorrow.  Hopefully it will be a day like today. 

[Lud]

Awesome!   I'm drooling over the woodwork as I've been redoing the old family room and it's been drywallin', paintin', lectrical for a month now. :'( :'( :'(

Not fine woodworking like you're do'in..........

[WDH]

Is that the original felling notch and hinge on the end?  Wow, that is cool.  Not many people away from here will recognize the significance of that.

[Norm]

That's very nice Chris!

Can you get a video of your wife when she goes to use her cheese grater?  :D

[Todd]

Great table Chris!  As I was reading this thread I kept saying.."I have that, and I have that" and then we got to the bessey clamps..don't got those! (Thank goodness, i almost didn't have an excuse to not make one too!  ;D)